After my morning trundle with a mate I thought I should inspect my tyres for cuts (haven't done it in a few weeks) and noticed a lump/bulge in the rear and what looks like perished rubber on the front.. It didn't really fill me will confidence. I've emailed the shop where I bought them and the Aus distributor; now I am waiting for replies. In the meantime I thought I'd ask the BNA brainstrust..

Would you ride on these?? (ignore the brand/make/model and pretend your brand x/make y/model z tyres look like these)

Perishing rubber is not a major concern at this point but the bulge is. Deflate the rear tyre and remount and reseat the tube/tyre and then see. Also examine the tyre carcass for damages at that spot. It could well be a twisted/poorly mounted inner tube. BTW, use some talc powder on the inner tube.

Schwalbe have been having this problem ever since they moved their manufacturing facility to Indonesia. There have been recalls on certain models such as the Ultremo R but the problem is more widespread than they admit. I've read threads on the touring forums where the same problem has been reported with Marathons.

Last edited by RonK on Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:23 am, edited 2 times in total.

sogood wrote:Perishing rubber is not a major concern at this point but the bulge is. Deflate the rear tyre and remount and reseat the tube/tyre and then see. Also examine the tyre carcass for damages at that spot. It could well be a twisted/poorly mounted inner tube. BTW, use some talc powder on the inner tube.

bought in November, only used these for about 500km so far though. Plenty of tread left (not even squared off slightly yet) and the perishing only appears in the red stripe (the black part is totally unblemished).

I know that your thread si not os much about the quality of the tyre that you ride but the current issues you are having with them.

Just to share my experience with them. Had a set (Schwalbe) that were used for 18 months, very good tyre no real issues.

Changed them late last year to another Schwalbe tyre and have had nothing but issues since. loads of flats and they seem to wear quicker (maybe more klms on different surfaces) I am 1 flat away from using them on the trainer and getting a different brand.

thanks guys; have contacted seller and distributor to get the ball rolling on replacement. Apart from what I saw on them today i've loved every km on them so far- smooth/fast/grippy (and not a puncture at all) and make Bert (my bike) look cool as hell. If it's just a bad pair (or batch) and they're fine again now I'll definitely be buying these tyres for as long as they keep making them (properly). They've come off now and been replaced by some pro4's which I've used happily in the past. If I get these replaced under warranty (i'm honestly not that fussed if they do or not) I'll certainly put them straight back on.

Baalzamon wrote:Love the rims tho

I love the rims too, almost cried when I broke a spoke and was without them for a while....

With these tires and the photos it looks like a material defect and probably would have affected an entire batch and exactly like yours - on the red stripes and not the black rubber. This type of effect usually first appears when the rubber is old (so good reason to avoid tires that have been sitting around too long).

Was the buldge in the tire or the inner tube? If it was the tire, then a lot of things have gone wrong and really something that should lead to a general recall unless the brand can clearly isolate both of these problems as exceptional.

AUbicycles wrote:With these tires and the photos it looks like a material defect and probably would have affected an entire batch and exactly like yours - on the red stripes and not the black rubber. This type of effect usually first appears when the rubber is old (so good reason to avoid tires that have been sitting around too long).

Was the buldge in the tire or the inner tube? If it was the tire, then a lot of things have gone wrong and really something that should lead to a general recall unless the brand can clearly isolate both of these problems as exceptional.

bulge was in the tyre itself, checked inside and couldn't see anything unusual, tube is in new tyre with no problem. It's probable that I've hit a rock/pot hole on the country roads I ride on so the bulge may not have anything to do with defects or manufacture.

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